America’s Cup contenders rig up

Press, 2 August 1977, Page 32

America’s Cup contenders rig up

NZPA Newport, Rhode Island Australia, France and Sweden on Friday face their first starting gun in the America’s Cup challenger elimination races with the outlook no clearer than yesterday’s hazy horizon on Rhode Island Sound. On Sunday Gretel II of Sydney twice demolished the re-rigged France I but it was no contest, as it was virtually the French yacht’s first serious outing. And it was particularly galling for the Gretel crew to botch their navigation, so that rather than arriving at the windward mark they found the wing mark instead, the best part of two nautical miles to the east.

.The Sydneysiders, four of whom were reserves, were red-faced over the incident ■ and gave assurances that such a blunder would not happen again. The three contenders for the United States defence have a few days off for measuring and maintainance after two series of trials iproviding them with 20-odd hard-fought races — 40 contests apiece. Of the would-be challengers, Gretel II and Australia have met seriously five times, France II and Australia three times, Gretel and France II four times. The Swedish hopeful, Sverige, has raced only against her test yacht Columbia, and Franc* t overwhelmed by

W.A.’s Southern Cross three i years ago, has raced Gretel! once. I

There is no denying that it is a paltry foreign build-up compared to the rigorous American schedule, and the position will not change much in the six weeks remaining to the cup challenge series itself. The Western Australia yacht Australia has not been beaten in her Newport trials.

Sydney’s Gretel has consistently dominated the; French yachts, though! France I, now sporting* France H’s better mast and sails, is still an unknown quantity. The “nice bunch of Swedes” across Narragansett 'Bay at Jamestown are also

quite untested in competition. The first series of challenger trials runs for six days, hopefully two races a day, each yacht meeting each of the others to establish a one-to-four seeding. After a one-day break, the first and fourth seeds and seeds two and three will each sail a best-of-seven race series.

■ Then there is a two-day break and the two winners [will go to the line for a second best-of-seven starting on August 25. Evidence so far suggests that the initial seeding sequence will be Australia, Gretel 11, Sverige and France I. From there it becomes

speculation, with most pundits forecasting a sail-off between the two Australian boats.

I n the meantime, the United States final selection series will run for 24 days from August 16 to September 8, with the big showdown between Lowell North’s improving Enterprise and Ted Turner’s still dominant Courageous. Enterprise and Courageous drew in the July trials with seven wins and six losses apiece. Counting both the June and July trials, Courageous has won 14 and lost seven races; Enterprise has won 11 and lost 12, and Ted Hood’s Independence has won seven and lost 13.